Martin Barry
Martin Barry joined the Canadian Foreign Service for the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) in 1992. He worked as an immigration officer at embassies in Guatemala and New Delhi, specialized in liaison functions with airlines and local authorities in Moscow and Latin America, before managing all immigration and refugee operations of Visa Offices, first in Rabat, then in Singapore and Nairobi where refugee resettlement needs were particularly pressing. In the 1990s, Martin was temporarily assigned to Croatia to process Bosnian refugees and to North Macedonia to participate in the evacuation of Kosovars, along with facilitating family reunification with relatives in Canada. His functions in Canada included the development and delivering of training on immigration legislation, as well as piloting the centralization in Canada of straightforward overseas immigration applications. As Director of the Permanent Resident Program Delivery division of IRCC’s operational sector (2017-21), he oversaw the guidance provided by his team on existing programs to the department and partners, including provinces and territories, the development of innovative economic programs, the design of the new Permanent Resident Card and the modernization of the process for granting permanent residence in Canada during the pandemic. Martin retired after 31 years of service.